


In Times of War

by GeometricFlowers



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst buried under smiles and denial, Comedy, Everyone thinks they're sleeping together, Families of Choice, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Humans are wierd, Kinda, Nail Polish, Strong Friendships, They barely know each other, Volus Hula Dancers, super fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 17:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeometricFlowers/pseuds/GeometricFlowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In times of war friends pop up from the oddest places. A human colony kid, barely fifteen and a turian C-Sec officer closing in on twice her age certainly count as an odd pair of friends, but war has a way of bringing us together, even as it tears us apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Times of War

**Author's Note:**

> Some of you may have read this already on my fanfiction . net account; since I first wrote it I have revised things (poor spelling and the like) and prepared it to be posted here. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Dellix POV

The first time we met I was returning from breaking up a fight between a couple of baratarians. It was over something stupid. Their society was in ruins and they were just taking their anger out on each other. A lot of people were, but a surprising amount of them weren't. I suppose that's why I chose to stay even after the docs managed to patch up my leg; I liked seeing the better natures that came out in times of conflict. You don't get to see that a lot stopping brawls down in Purgatory.

The docks were chaotic with fleeing refugees, mostly from Palaven and Earth. You could hardly turn in some parts without an asari thinking you were brushing up against her on purpose. Even so, I liked it down there.

The girl stood in front of my desk, probably too young to be off on her own, looking lost, but oddly optimistic. I suppose that's what caught my attention most, amongst the sea of sad and lonely people drifting about without any spirit among them. All humans looked vulnerable and squishy to me, especially the females, yet seeing her waiting in front of my desk like that... I wondered if she was alright.

She didn't even seem to notice it when I slipped back behind my desk, caught up in her own thoughts as she was. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

Somehow she didn't seem shocked upon waking from her own little dreamworld, and said, "I'm waiting."

"Waiting? Waiting for who?"

"For my parents. They put me on a rescue transport and told me to wait for them here," she answered cheerfully, "They'll come find me as soon as they can."

Pacified by the certainty in her voice I said, "Well, I guess this is a safe enough place. Look, if anyone bothers you, let me know. I'll take care of them, okay?"

She smiled, "Sure thing, sir. Thanks."

My omnitool blinked with an incoming message. It said urgent, but they were all urgent lately. I prepared to answer it, but paused, turning towards her. "You have a name, kid?"

"Alicia Baker, sir. But everyone calls me Ally," she said, extending her hand towards me.

Familiar with this human gesture I awkwardly took her small, five fingered hand in my larger talons and shook, "Dellix Torrakas."

We released each others hands and I left, off to greet a tired band of asari commandos looking for a place to treat their wounded. I forgot all about Ally Baker soon enough, caught up in all the little emergencies constantly erupting around the makeshift camps.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I saw her again two days later, looking as cheerful as ever, if a little restless, pacing past my desk. Her gold colored, stringy fringe looked darker and limp, as if it was wet or something, and her tan, denim clothes were looking a little rumpled. She still looked healthier than most of the other refugees, though, so that was something.

"Hey there," I called, my mandibles rising in a grin.

She paused, looking around to see if someone was talking to her. I leaned forward onto my desk, and she seemed to notice me. "Oh. It's you! Hi!"

"You're parents get here yet?" I asked.

"Nope; it's okay. I mean, they'll get here. They always keep their promises. They... Next shuttle was probably just late or something, that's all."

"I'm sure you're right," I forced my mandibles to stay up in a comforting smile. Any turian would have seen through it in an instant, but if she saw anything amiss she didn't say so, "I look forward to meeting them." If they come, I amended silently, uncomfortable with the false assurances, even if they were what she probably needed to hear.

"I'm sure they look forward to meeting you too. Well, they will once they get here, Officer Torrakas."

"Call me Dellix, kid. And I meant it before, when I said to come to me if anyone was causing you trouble."

"I know. Thank you, s... Dellix."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

"Can I help?" I asked the blond man directing refugees to cots, giving priority to mothers and children. He looked nice enough, and just waiting was starting to drive me a little nuts. My parents were taking forever.

"Oh, sure," he turned to look at me, "Wait, aren't you one of the refugees?"

"Yeah, but... y'know... It's not like there's much to do around here..." Not yet anyway. The people at the front desk couldn't process me until either my parents showed or I declared myself an- that they weren't coming. Dellix might try if I asked, he seemed nice enough, but I didn't think there was anything he could do.

He smiled, "I'm Conrad."

"Ally." We shook hands. He kinda reminded me of my dad, in a way. All awkward and a little slow and nicer than a well trained varren. Homesickness struck me hard for a second there and I had to blink back a couple of tears, "So, what can I do to help?"

"Before that, do you have a place to sleep?"

"Yeah," I chirped, glad he hadn't noticed my little slip.

"Really? I don't think you're on the list..."

"I'm staying with a new friend, actually. She's been really cool about it."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I met Morlia my first night on the Citadel. The docks looked a little scary by the low light of the night cycle, and I kept imagining seeing vorcha skulking in the shadows. I know it's super racist of me, but they're scary looking and I really didn't want to meet one just then. I wandered for a few hours before she saw me, trying to keep to the lights as much as possible.

She'd looked very purple and about thirty by human standards, which probably meant that she was ancient. With her old-person, asari wisdom she seemed to understand what I was doing immediately and waved me over. She was in a sleeping bag that looked way too comfy to be one of the ones that they were passing out to refugees.

"You need a place to sleep tonight." She sounded gruff, but not unkind, and I was dead tired.

"Yes?"

"Just tonight. You're lucky that I'm a sucker for a charity case," she grumbled, scooching over so I could join her. And that settled that. Truth be told, I think she was happy to have someone there, even if she wouldn't admit it. At the very least, it had been three days and she didn't seem to plan on kicking me out any time soon.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good. Well, you can start by greeting incoming humans and directing them this way," he said.

"Just humans?"

"To make things easier we're splitting up the docks by species. We're only equipped to deal with humans here," he leaned in and whispered, "Probably baratarians, too. But that's a bad idea." He handed me an omnipad as he leaned away, nodding sagely, "Good luck."

I'd been standing by the docks for a few hours when it occurred to me that this was probably one of the best assignments I could've gotten. I got to look for my parents and do something useful in the mean time. Maybe all that stuff they said about guardian angels was true.

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Dellix POV

"Thank you, Mr. Verner," I said quietly.

"That's okay. Almost forgot she was the girl you asked us to look out for. She'll be a big help."

"Did you make sure she got a bed?"

"Said she's staying with a new friend."

"Huh," I looked thoughtfully towards the docks where she was helping a lone Alliance soldier with a rabble of kids probably evacuated from Earth or one of the nearby colonies. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Thanks again."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Not a pet," Tectis said, never glancing up from the omnitool he was so diligently typing into. He seemed to be completely absorbed in it, but I knew from experience that he could see both me and the majority of the docking bay with his peripheral vision. I wished I could do the same. It would've made our patrols a whole lot easier. He saw my mandibles flutter in confusion, and the young salarian clarified, "The human."

Ally? "So I am aware. What makes you say she is?"

"Not saying she is; I'm saying you're treating her like one. Effort you put into checking on her better spent on helping more refugees. More logical."

I glared in the direction of a young elcor who smelled like he was looking for a fight. He backed down reluctantly and I was grateful. "Maybe, but she's just a kid. I don't think she's more than fifteen years old; someone has to look out for her."

He finally looked up at me, "I'm fourteen."

"But you're a salarian."

"And you went into basic training at fifteen," he continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"By human standards she's still a kid," I insisted.

"Cultural differences irrelevant," he waved his hand in dismissal, "Still old enough to survive on her own."

My face tightened into a frown, "She shouldn't have to. Besides, I like being able to take care of her, even indirectly. It makes me feel better," I said, gesturing at the surrounding chaos, "about all of this."

He actually stopped walking. I didn't even notice it at first, but stopped when I did, and turned to see Tectis staring at me, wide, dark eyes narrowed in thought. Half a second later he started walking again. His silence didn't last much longer. "Romantic attentions towards human children ill-advised. Age and cultural differences alone present issues. Together they are insurmountable obstacles."

A laugh began to rumble up inside of me, but I kept a blank face and said, "I thought the cultural implications of her age were 'irrelevant.'" I copied the dismissive hand wave he made earlier. He glared at me for using his logic against him and I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore. After a while I calmed down enough to clap a talon on his shoulder and assure him, "I have no intentions to pursue the kid."

He nodded, "Hard to judge attraction in other species. Shouldn't jump to conclusions."

I understood that. Salarians didn't feel anything even close to romantic love or sexual attraction unless it was with an asari. "I'm mainly curious, though, how you got from me calling her a kid all the time to that I wanted to mate with her."

He snorted, "Like I said, shouldn't jump to conclusions. Some humans call their partners 'baby.'"

"...That's really creepy."

"Humans are weird," he agreed.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

I sat near the shuttle bay eating the lunch Conrad handed me earlier. It had nothing on my mom's cooking, but I was hungry enough that it came close. Mainly, I was just glad it wasn't Nutripaste and water.

Through the throngs of aliens just arriving on the Citadel, I saw a vaguely familiar flash of C-SEC blue armor. I leaned a bit forward, craning my neck, and saw that it was Dellix, laughing at an annoyed looking salarian. I blinked in surprise. I'd never seen a turian laugh before, having lived on a human only colony all my life and then arriving in a refugee camp where everyone was super depressed. They were heading in my direction, so I smiled and called out, "Hey!"

Dellix spotted me and turned towards his salarian friend to say something. The salarian simply nodded and continued walking while the large turian headed over to see me.

"Hey," he said, "Still waiting, I see. Any news?"

"No, but they promised, right? They'll get here soon." I set aside the bowl of noodles I'd been eating. It didn't taste so good anymore.

He looked sad, I think, but I wasn't sure if that was right. I hadn't had the chance to study many turian expressions yet. "I'm sure they will."

We were both quiet for a while. I picked my bowl back up. It wouldn't do to waste food. My parents always told me when I was little that it was bad to leave food on your plate. They said that you only take as much as you need and eat all of it. I managed to swallow another bite before he said, "I heard you're staying with a friend?"

I smiled at that, "Yes. She's an asari named Morlia. We met a few days ago and she's letting me share her sleeping bag." His mandibles slackened and his eyes widened. Surprise or horror?

I didn't have to wonder for long. "You met a random woman a few days ago and you're already sharing a bed with her?"

"She's nice," I insisted, "Besides, her sleeping bag is ridiculously comfy."

He buried his face in his talons. "Didn't your parents ever tell you to not talk to strangers, kid?"

"She's not a stranger. We've been sharing a bed for days."

"That logic is circular."

"I'm fine," I said, a bit defensive.

A world weary sigh escaped him. "I'll drop by later to check in on you, if that's okay."

I smiled at him again. "Okay."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I considered dropping by that evening while on patrol. The C-Sec blue of my armor would've scared off anyone up to no good, I figured. Ultimately, I decided against it though. If I went there as an officer I would've had to leave to answer to any number of reports that I knew would inevitably flood my omnitool, and I wanted to sit down with this woman and have a proper talk. I had an afternoon off the next day and decided to go then.

So that night I headed home instead. I'd hardly seen the place for a month. Before Cerberus attacked I wouldn't say that I'd been there a lot, but at least I slept there most nights. But then they came and one of their crazy, sword wielding, stealth soldiers came up behind me while I was shooting suppressive fire at the rest of her squad and managed to crack the carapace of my left leg. I would've died right there if Tectis hadn't shoved his shotgun into her face and pulled the trigger. It took a week of hospital treatments before they'd release me for desk duty, then I was so overworked down in the docking bay that I hardly got a chance to sleep in my own bed. My schedule had only gotten more hectic since I was cleared to go on patrols.

To be honest, I was glad that I had something planned during my day off. It wasn't that I didn't like going home, but the feeling of uselessness I found when doing nothing was something I could not stand.

I sighed tiredly as I walked up the stairs leading towards my apartment. I'm ashamed to say I didn't even notice my elderly, human neighbor, Teresa, until she called out, "Evening, dear! Hard day at the office?"

She appeared to be locking her door, purse slung over her shoulder. I wondered what she was planning to do so late at night, and decided to ask her.

"Oh," she said, "I'm having some lunch with my daughter-in-law tomorrow, but I realized that I didn't have any of those scones she enjoys so much. She doesn't eat nearly enough, the poor dear, but she's always so busy at work lately..."

The wards were nearly empty at this time of night, low lit and filled with shadows. "Do you really think that nows the best time to go shopping?"

"I need those scones," she answered with a decisive air that I didn't expect from her.

"At least let me accompany you then," I said, offering an armored arm to her, which she accepted.

"My son used to get them for her all the time, you see. He said the blueberry ones reminded him of her..."

An hour later I finally got to sink down onto my bed, half asleep before I even got under the covers.

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Ally POV

I told Morlia what Dellix said about stopping by sometime and she snorted, "About time."

"What do you mean?" I asked, flipping over in the sleeping bag to face her.

"It's C-SEC's job to check up on dumb, little human girls who climb into bed with strangers."

"I take offense to that," I informed her, most definitely not pouting.

"Go to sleep," she ordered me, closing her eyes.

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Dellix POV

The asari were mostly gathered in a waiting area not too far away from my desk. Some were draped on the chairs spiritlessly, while others packed their sleeping bags into the small floor space that the chairs encircled. Some reports said that things were starting to look bad on Thessia, that the damage there would soon begin to rival that being done to Palaven and Earth. We were certainly seeing more and more of them flee to the Citadel.

I approached the nearest asari, watching the docking ships with tired eyes. "Excuse me, do you know where I can find Morlia? She has a human named Ally staying with her?"

"No, but hold on," she said turning to another asari, who shook her head, but turned to another one of the refugees, "We should be able to tell you in just a sec."

Eventually one of them pointed me towards another, larger camp they'd started to form the next floor down.

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Ally POV

I smiled at Morlia's confused expression. It was one I hadn't seen on her before, and I wanted to bask in it for as long as I could. "You're painting your hands."

"My nails," I confirmed, admiring the still drying, red polish, "One of the volunteers from the wards let me borrow it. I would offer to paint your nails, but you don't have any."

"So, what, are they like turian facial markings or something?" she asked, inspecting my hand like I was the weird one. Seriously, who never heard of nail polish?

"Not unless they just paint their faces to make them feel pretty," I said, "and even then a closer equivalent would have to be make-up."

She looked ready to ask another question when I saw Dellix slowly picking his way towards us, being careful to not step on anyone. I almost didn't recognize him at first, without his armor, but I would recognize his face anywhere, with his dark carapace and pale tan markings. He towered over all the asari he passed. When I waved at him Morlia turned and narrowed her eyes. "I thought he'd be human."

"With a name like Dellix?"

She rose before he could reach us and greeted him, "You're Dellix, then. How... nice to see a turian so willing to be concerned about the welfare of a human."

He eyed her with similarly narrowed eyes, "And it's always nice to meet an asari so quick to share her bed."

"I know, right?" I said, picking up on the delicious tension brewing between them. They didn't even break eye contact! I decided to introduce them properly. (I set up a ton of my friends back home.) "Morlia, this is Dellix Torrakas. He's been really nice to me ever since I first got here, checking up on me and everything." I turned back towards Morlia, "And Dellix, this is Morlia. Isn't she just so pretty?"

"Very," he deadpanned.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that he didn't find her physically attractive, but I was still a little disappointed, and now confused. If he wasn't attracted to her then why did he keep staring? My purple friend must have have felt similarly because she tensed more and said, "Am I not yellow enough for your tastes?"

"Turians like yellow?"

"My tastes don't run that way," he answered her, "Just making sure yours don't either." He slipped off one of his gloves, casually inspecting his talons.

"They don't."

Things were less tense then. I convinced them to sit down and have a normal conversation, but I'll admit to being disappointed that that weren't getting together anytime soon. Dellix let me paint his talons while we talked, though, so it was cool.

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Dellix POV

My conversation with Morlia had gone better then expected. We swapped stories of our careers, with me telling her about basic training and C-Sec and her telling me about how she was a gunship pilot for Eclipse for nearly a century back in her maiden phase. Ally had simply listened for the most part, painting my talons "for luck and prosperity," or so she assured me. The crude asari laughed outright when she said that, but I ignored her. No one would see my talons beneath my gloves anyway.

She probably wasn't the best role-model for a young girl, but somehow I thought she'd at least keep her safe and that was good enough for the moment.

I took a drink of tupari as I surveyed the slowly waking refugees, blinking in the brightening lights of the Citadel's morning cycle. A few of the smarter ones got up before the rest and grabbed the necessary paperwork from processing. They were scribbling out their information quickly, hoping to turn it in before the lines got too long.

I knew why Ally didn't have any processing paperwork done. She was still waiting for her mother and father, and couldn't put down their information for them or bear to say thet they were dead. I sincerely hoped that her parents would show up, fill out the papers and whisk her off to somewhere in the galaxy that might be safe, but it had been a week since she arrived and I didn't see that happening.

I saw her, already up and heading towards the landing zone, omnipad firmly in hand and a cheerful smile already lighting up her face, and waved. Spotting me at my desk she returned the wave. Then she gestured to her hand and said something that my translator wouldn't pick up on because she was out of range. Still, I got the gist of it and removed my glove to wave at her again. The smile I got for doing so was almost worth it, even if it did set every other awake human in the place to whispering.

Tectis arrived as I was putting my glove back on. He said nothing, opting to raise a brow in confusion instead. I shrugged at him, equally confused. He decided to drop it.

We went for our morning patrol in near silence in an attempt to not wake anyone who wasn't already rising to greet the day. It was almost peaceful. I decided that it was my favorite part of the day when we got back to the desk without having come across trouble.

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Ally POV

Nothing had changed down at the docks. Some people wandered listlessy, while others rushed by, eager to find a place to sleep before the Citadel's night cycle could go into full effect. They were in groups and they wandered alone. A lot of them looked like they were in mourning.

I was the same, too. My hair was styled in the same ponytail I'd been putting it in since forever. My nails were still glossy and red, not even beginning to chip yet. I had a granola bar clenched in my hand, and I'm pretty sure that my colony had grown the ingredients for the company before the war. I wondered briefly where they were getting them now. Nothing visible had changed. I wished it had.

Everything was the same, but it was all different, too. Like looking at the sky from under water.

Someone sat down next to me on the bench, armor clanking slightly. I turned my head to see Dellix watching the crowds like I had been doing a second before. The difference between us was that if he saw something wrong with this strange new version of reality, he could fix it.

"Hey there," he said.

"Hey..."

"Looking mighty low today. Anyone been bothering you?" he asked.

"No," I said, "it's not that. I'm fine." He had enough to worry about.

"Ah. I see. So, um... any news?" he winced.

I swallowed back a lump building in my throat, managing to sound normal when I answered, "No. They just- Their shuttle must be real slow, that's all." I took a breath, "Do you think they're okay? They promised me they'd come and get me, no matter what they had to do. But it's been so long."

"I don't know, kid. I'm sure they'd be happy knowing you're safe."

The tears were getting harder to fight. "It's just, I miss them. I miss them so much." I took a few more deep breaths. I needed to tell someone. "I saw a woman today. From behind. I thought she was my mom. She wasn't, but, Dellix, for a second I thought she was, and I realized that before that moment I thought my mom was dead. I was shocked when I thought I saw her."

It had only been a week and I'd already given up on them! Angry tears welled up then, and I rubbed them away with the heels of my palms. I had no reason to cry yet. They weren't dead.

He said nothing, watching me get control of myself out of the corner of his eye. I wondered if tears were as foreign to him as nail polish.

He spoke slowly, as if choosing his words carefully, "I can't pretend to know what you're going through, but, for what it's worth, I'm sorry Ally."

"Thanks."

"Come on. You should get some sleep. I'm sure Morlia's gonna start worrying about you soon."

I laughed softly, "Not that she'll show it."

When I got to the sleeping bag I slipped inside quick, offering my "roommate" a quick good night before drifting off from a surprising bout of exhaustion. I could hear my two favorite aliens murmuring in the background right up until the point where I drifted off.

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Dellix POV

Ally climbed quickly into the sleeping bag, offering only a quick good-night to Morlia, who simply turned and looked to me for an explanation. We sat on a nearby bench and I told her what happened as I understood it. When I finished she nodded, "It's hard to lose a parent so young. Goddess knows I refused to believe that my dad kicked the bucket for days after my mom told me. You think it's worse, not knowing?"

"I don't know. How old were you when your dad passed?"

She looked surprised by my curiosity. So was I. "Thirty-two."

I had to ask, "So, was he a baratarian, or a krogan, or something?"

She laughed, "Nope. A hanar diplomat. Met my mom while she was working as a waitress on Thessia. I've got a soul name and everything. Surprised?"

"Yeah. A little," I said.

"What about you, then? It seems like I've seen markings like yours all over C-SEC. They recruit you all from the same part of Palaven?"

"Actually, they're Citadel markings. Turians that lived here during the Unification War decided to form a clan together."

"So watching Palaven... it hurts, but it's not personal? You don't know anyone down there?"

It was my turn to be surprised, "No. I mean, my mom's captaining a supply ship bringing stuff in, but that's about it. I've never been there; my training was on a nearby colony world and none of the ships I served on afterwords landed there. What makes you ask?"

Morlia sighed, watching the brightly colored women settle in for the night around us, before flickering her eyes to Ally. She closed them. "Ally's not exactly the brightest eezo in the docking bay; she's way more sheltered then she should be at her age.

That night I saw her wandering around was supposed to be my last night on the Citadel. The next morning I planned to go sign up for the next ship to Thessia. I was gonna go blast the Reapers all the way back to dark space. Then I saw this kid, jumping at shadows, lost, and way too young to be alone."

"You offered her a place to sleep," I guessed, already knowing the answer.

"She said yes. Who does that? I couldn't leave her alone to follow the next person that said 'come on over!' The next morning she said her parents were on their way, so I was like, cool, they can teach her basic safety while I go kill stuff. Then they didn't come."

"I did instead."

"I thought you were a human," she said, "when she mentioned you. I was glad she could at least be with her people... Then I met you."

"And we both know the rest," I said, mandibles flaring in a grin that died down as I realized what she was getting at, "Thessia's personal."

"I still need to go. You'll take care of her?"

"Of course," I said, already thinking of the necessary paperwork to become her temporary guardian, "I'll need a couple days to get some things together and explain the situation to Ally."

 

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Ally POV

When I woke up the next morning I felt, well, not better, but not as bad as the night before. That probably doesn't make any sense, but it's still true. I slipped out of the sleeping bag quietly; she always grumbled when I managed to wake her at the "ass-crack of dawn."

The mornings always managed to feel so empty, despite all the people. I crept quietly towards the deck above, receiving breakfast from a sleepy volunteer and waving at Dellix, who looked as alert as always, standing next to his salarian friend. Turians always looked alert, I'd noticed. I think it's the eyes. They look like they see everything.

A ship full of Japanese refugees fleeing from Kyoto arrived soon after I did, so I busied myself sorting them. It was almost relaxing to be so busy because it kept my mind off of other things. By the time I'd managed to get down all their information, give them a tour of the deck, and introduce them to Conrad it was nearing lunchtime. I wouldn't have even noticed except that Dellix sent me a message to meet him and Morlia over by his desk around 14:00. I didn't even know my omnipad received messages, much less how he knew how to contact it, but I headed over anyway.

I saw them sitting at a table nearby. They looked like my parents did when they told me my dog died. I told them so, and they looked at each other before Dellix gestured at the remaining seat, "Take a seat, kid. We have some things we need to talk to you about."

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Dellix POV

Ally took the news that Morlia was leaving surprisingly well, especially when we explained what her new living arrangements would be (if she wanted them). She did protest a bit, first that she couldn't fill out the necessary processing papers, then that no army would take an asari who couldn't handle waking up early. I eased her first fear by explaining that the temporary guardianship papers wouldn't require any information about her parents besides the fact that they weren't with her. Morlia answered her second protest with a gentle smack upside the head.

We were on one of the upper floors of the docking bay, looking out at a series of long recruitment lines. The night cycle was almost here, but the lights on this particular level were still bright and there were more people then I could count signing up for various armies. Some recruiters were calling out the expected, "Save the homeworld!" pleas for enlistment, but I noticed that the baratarians were being a bit more... fatalistic.

"It may cost all of us our lives, but we will destroy every last Reaper in this two-eyed, jelly-boned galaxy! Sign up now!" a slightly crazed looking baratarian screamed at nearby crowds.

"Shut up! You're scaring off our recruits!" a human in an Alliance uniform yelled back at him.

The baratarian turned towards him, enraged, "We all die! I'm telling my men to die for glory! It's not my fault if you humans don't understand that!"

"Commander Shepard-"

"Shepard is a war criminal!"

I stepped forward when a fight began to look inevitable, but two on duty C-SEC agents took care of it. Behind me Morlia commented, "You think they'd save that for the Reapers."

"They're just scared. Taking it out on each other helps," I said, turning back towards the two girls, "You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah," she turned suddenly, giving Ally a quick hug, "Be good. I'll send you some vidmail soon." She nodded at me, "Take care of her."

"Of course."

"Good," she made a shooing motion, "Now get out of here. It will ruin my image to have a couple of aliens sobbing at me not to go."

Ally spoke up for the first time since we'd set off for the recruitment stations, "Would it stop you if we would?"

We stared at her for a few seconds. Her eyes were open just a bit too wide and her chin trembled almost imperceptibly. The asari stepped forward, cupping the kid's face in her hand, "No. I'm sorry Ally."

The kid pulled her into another hug, not letting go for a long time. She pulled away slowly. This time she didn't look ready to cry. "I'll see you when this is all over then."

"Yeah you will. Now go. I've got paperwork to fill out."

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Ally POV

Dellix placed a talon on my shoulder, gently guiding me away.

I'm not sure why, but I glanced over my shoulder towards where we had left Morlia. She smiled when she saw me look over, but her cheeks were wet. She turned and headed off towards the nearest recruiter for the Asari Army.

For a long time the walk towards Dellix's house was quiet. I silently admired the Citadel Wards; I'd never been off my small, farming, colony world before arriving at the docks and it was all so brilliantly new. The stores we passed on our way to the residential districts appeared to be alcoves scooped out of the walls themselves, like that one village back on Earth that was carved out of the cliffs, but instead of sandy, red rocks, it was all smooth, shiny metal. The stars lit our path through the Wards as much as the streetlights and occasional, dimly lit billboards. I knew that it was probably packed with people during the day cycle, and even the night cycle in some areas, but for the moment it felt like Dellix and I were the only two people on the Citadel.

I glanced at Dellix beside me. He was big, even by turian standards, so he was huge as he walked next to me. He was big and sharp and really nice. He made me feel safe.

"Hey kid, credit for your thoughts?"

I grinned up at him, "The Wards are beautiful."

He did that familiar alien smile thing. "You should see the Presidium. I've been up there a couple times for award ceremonies and stuff. The views up there are some of the best views on the Citadel."

"It's hard to imagine a prettier view than this," I said, looking out at the sprawling city. "Did you grow up here?"

"Yeah, my dad raised me in a little apartment not far from here. Right over there actually," he said, pointing towards a five story building a few blocks away.

"Where was your mom?" I asked.

He smiled again, pointing towards the stars this time, "Military ship when I was young, a private supply ship now. She's the captain."

"You sound proud of her."

"I am. She's a good captain. She wasn't a very good soldier, though. She and my dad used to joke that her superiors were praying to every god in the universe for time to magically speed up and make her thirty so that she wouldn't be stuck on their spurs anymore. It's not that she ever disobeyed an order, just that she's not a very violent person."

He turned a corner, leading us into an area with a few less shops and a few more houses.

"Why aren't you in the military, then? You don't seem like you're thirty yet," I remarked.

"Ship life never agreed with me. I only stayed a few years before transferring to C-SEC."

"Is that what your dad does? C-SEC?"

"No," he answered, "My dad was too sick for active service, so he was given leave to stay home raising me instead. He died a few years back."

I was quiet for a while, feeling guilty about bringing it up, before I whispered, "Sorry."

"Hmm?" he said, startled out of whatever thoughts he'd been having. "No; don't be. It was a relief when he'd passed on. He'd been sick for a long time."

"Oh," I sighed, glad that I hadn't brought up a sore subject.

We turned into a little cave-like hallway that lit up brightly once we stepped onto the stairs. There were three doors, two almost directly at the top of the stairs and one towards the back next to an elevator.

"We're a few floors up," he said, leading me towards the back door.

I paused in front of the elevator. "Wouldn't it be faster to take the elevator?"

He was already disappearing up the first flight of stairs when he called back, "First rule of the Citadel: never take the elevator!" He paused on the top stair, waiting while I jogged up to meet him, and said, "They're all ridiculously slow. Something about the artificial gravity here. Every once and a while someone tries to fix it, but the keepers always change them back."

We reached his door a little later, and he opened it to reveal... a surprisingly normal looking livingroom. I was expecting something more alien, to be honest. It was an average sized, clean, neutral colored apartment with comfy looking couches and a big TV. "Come on, I'll give you the tour." He showed me a normal looking kitchen, then an average bathroom, before showing me towards the guest room where he said that I could sleep. "I hope this is okay," he said.

"This is great," I said honestly, happy with how soft the bed looked and the nice view of the Wards from the window. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

My stomach rumbled then and I realized that I had forgotten to eat dinner. "Um... Do you have anything to eat?"

"Ye-" he started to say, before his face twitched into a thoughtful frown. "Can you, uh, hang on just a second?" He put up a talon in a universal 'wait here' sign and rushed out the front door.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I forgot the food. I spent so much time filling out the paperwork and cleaning out the spare bedroom and doing all the other little things a person does when someone else is going to be staying with them that I forgot that humans couldn't eat turian food. Luckily, I had a human neighbor. Teresa was a kind woman who was bound to have food humans could eat.

I went across the hall and rang her doorbell.

Teresa answered the door a short time later wearing an extremely fluffy, bright pink bathrobe, some slippers that matched, and some slightly more subdued lavender silk pajamas. She blinked in surprise seeing me at her door, but she stepped aside in a wordless invitation for me to come in. I shook my head. "Sorry to bother you so late, but I was wondering if I could borrow some..." I thought about what I had heard humans talk about eating, "...ramen?"

She looked at me in concern and said, "Dellix, if you've lost another bet to Tectis I'm willing to tell him that you ate human food. You don't actually have to. Seeing you go into anaphylactic shock once was enough for me."

I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed by the memory. "It's not that. You see, I have this girl staying with me for a while; she's a human, but I forgot to buy levo food."

"No need to say another word, dear," she said, beaming at me, "I'll bring something right over. Come on, we'll pick something out of the kitchen."

She grabbed an armored talon and practically dragged me into her kitchen, which had the same layout as mine, but looked much more cramped thanks to the sheer amount of stuff crammed into it. Gleaming cooking tools took up nearly all the counters as well as dangling from hooks on the walls. Drying herbs hung from most of the few places that would otherwise be empty. Above the sink she had filled the remainder with photos of both herself and others. A young man stood in the heart of most of them. In the more recent looking ones he was wearing an Alliance uniform and had his arm thrown around a bright blue asari. They looked happy together.

"Tell me about this girl," she ordered, beginning to rifle around her cupboards.

I stood by awkwardly, looking for a way to help, but unable to find one. "Her name's Ally," I started. "She has a yellow... fringe? I'm not sure what you call it-"

"Hair," she interrupted, pulling out a jar red balls suspended in some sort of liquid.

"Yeah. Hair. I haven't seen many humans with that color hair before. Is it significant?"

"No, but it is rare." She was grabbing some noodles. I recognized those. They didn't look too different from the turian kind.

"Oh. She's very cheerful," I offered. That was a good way to describe her.

"Good. It's always nice to have someone cheerful around when you get home from a long day at work. Unless she works, too?" She asked, loading a variety of spices into my arms.

"No. She's volunteering down at the docks though," I answered, trying to balance the little plastic containers.

Her face lit up. "Is that where you met? The docks?" I nodded. "You get transferred to one of the busiest parts of the Citadel, and suddenly, not only are you always gone, but now you're bringing home a girl I've never met before. Well, I'm going to meet her now, I'll tell you that much." She placed her odd jar and the noodles in a large pot and started to move towards the door.

I followed her as I protested, "But I just saw you a few days ago!"

"Did you?"

"Yeah. We went to the store together. You wanted some food that reminded your son of his wife?" I prompted.

"Of course. It slipped my mind. I'm getting old, Dellix," she lamented playfully, opening my door for the both of us. I didn't think that was all it was; she still looked confused. But she wanted us to drop it, so I did.

Ally looked up from the half dead flower she'd been poking at in the living room to see us coming through the door with arms full of what I assumed was good food, judging by the way she smiled. "Hey, I'm Ally," she said, stepping forward to shake the older woman's hand, then reaching out to grab the pot instead when it occurred to her that Julia could not return the gesture.

My colorful neighbor allowed her to take the pot and introduced herself, "Teresa. I'm Dellix's neighbor from across the hall. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ally smiled shyly at her, "Same here. I'll just put this in the kitchen."

I moved to follow when I felt a small hand tug on my arm. Julia whispered, "Dear, I've never been one to object to love, but don't you think she's a bit young for you?"

I sighed. Why did everyone think I had a human fetish?

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

Dellix and Teresa came into the kitchen as I was pulling the spaghetti noodles and whole tomatoes in a jar out of the pot. Dellix dropped his armful of spices carefully nearby. Julia set herself to arranging it immediately. When she was done she stepped back and surveyed her handiwork, making sure everything was there. Then she snapped her fingers suddenly, "I forgot the utensils. I'll be right back."

I leaned against the counter, watching Dellix peer at the tomatoes. I looked closer at them too, wondering what was so special about them. They seemed normal enough to me. So I asked him why he looked so weirded out. He tapped the jar with an armored talon, "Because humans are weird. Why would you want to eat these? They look disgusting. They jiggle."

"You know what I think is weird? You don't have anything alien looking in here; this stuff all looks like things I could see in a human's house. Where's the funny gadgets and foreign art and food that makes me loose my appetite?"

He shrugged, looking thoughtful. "I don't know what you'd consider unusual. You can look around my fridge for the food and we can watch a turian vid tonight while we eat if you want culture. I don't think any of my stuff will be exotic to you, though, other than the fact that it's mostly designed for three fingered species."

I looked down at my hand and it occurred to me that besides the asari and batarians most of the species on the Citadel had three fingers. I didn't have time to dwell on Humanity's sudden exoticness for long though. Julia came bustling back into the kitchen asking me to, "Be a dear and give me a hand?"

Dellix heated up some sort of bluish-purple meat that he snacked on while we cooked. He brought up the idea of watching a turian vid with the older woman while the water for the noodles was just being put on the stove. They debated over which one it should be even as we were dishing up our plates.

She won and we watched 'Fleet and Flotilla' as we ate. By the end of the movie I was crying into her shoulder at the beauty of their romance and Dellix had fallen asleep.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I smiled sleepily as the warm sunlight spilled into the room. Then I frowned. A pillow? There was something weird about that, but I was just on the edge of returning to sleep...

I forced myself to sit up, blinking at the light streaming in through a nearby window. For half a second I panicked, wondering where I was, but then I remembered that I was in Dellix's spare room and I relaxed, mostly. There was still something wrong. There was sunlight- artificial light, probably, but it still signaled to me that I had slept in much later then I normally did. Why was that a bad thing?

The Docks! I hadn't told them that I would be late today! There would be no one there to greet incoming refugees!

What if my parents came and I wasn't there?

I jumped out of bed, practically throwing off the pajamas Julia had lent me, bringing them over along with 'Fleet and Flotilla.' I pulled on the same clothes I'd been wearing the whole week, now freshly washed, in record time, and grabbed my omnipad from the nightstand.

"Dellix, wake up!" I shouted, pulling on my shoes. ""You'll be late for work! We've got to go!" There was no answer. I knocked on his bedroom door, which whooshedopen to reveal that he wasn't there. Then I poked my head into the living room, eying the couch he'd fallen asleep on. He wasn't there either. The bathroom and kitchen were similarly empty. He'd left without me.

I started to leave too when a little flashing mail icon on my omnipad caught my attention. According to my inbox I had two messages. Curious, I opened the fist one.

Dellix appeared on the screen, likely on his way to work and recording the message with his omnitool if the moving background and camera angle were any indication. "Ally, you're probably a little mad right now," he began as I glared at his recording, "but I figured you could use the day off. Don't worry about the docks; I just sent a message to Verner. He's already got someone else there, just for today, and they already know to look out for any Bakers coming through the area. You probably need some necessities, so I left you a credit chit on the kitchen counter. Go and get your supplies, and maybe use any extra to have some fun or something. Be a kid. I'll see you when I get home."

I wandered off to the kitchen and saw that there was, indeed, a credit chit sitting on the counter. For a while I just stared at it. My parents took me clothes shopping once a year back home. We'd all pile into the car, set it on auto-pilot, and talk for the six hours it took to get to the main settlement, a city of nearly twelve million. It couldn't hold a candle to the size of the Citadel, but compared to my little farming town of five hundred it was gigantic. The last time I saw that city my parents were waving to me from it's ruins before I was packed into the last transport shuttle leaving the planet.

But there was no time to dwell on that. There was another message, according to that little flashing icon.

"Hi," Morlia said, surprising me. I wasn't expecting her to be able to call for another few days at least. "You better not have done anything stupid while I was gone. Goddess, you've probably already been drafted into the elcor army or lured into doing something compromising with a drell for Fornax. Not that you should know what that is. Crap." She turned to someone off-screen and shouted, "T'Ronin, how do you cut out part of a message?" Someone answered her, but I couldn't hear what was said. Morlia simply said, "Thanks," and moved forward to fiddle with the camera. She stepped back into focus and began again, "Hi. Just letting you know I haven't died yet and making sure you've managed the same. Send me message when you can. Talk to you later." The camera shifted again and I could hear her ask someone how to turn it off. Someone else responded, but it cut off before I could figure out if it was the same voice from before.

My stomach rumbled, and I ambled off towards the kitchen. A quick search of the fridge and a minute of nuking later, I had a plate of leftover spaghetti in front of me. As I ate I decided to do what Dellix said and spend the day shopping. Maybe I'd get a couple of outfits so that I would look nice when my parents showed. Then, when I got back, I could give Morlia a call.

It would be a nice day, I decided.

Now I just had to find out what Fornax was.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I tapped a couple of buttons on my omnitool, ending the message. Ally would wake up soon, but I'd managed to leave before she did. Or, at least, I assumed she was still sleeping. For all I knew, she could have left way before me and was standing on the docks listening to my message in confusion. Oh well, I'd jump that relay if I got to it.

On the way I passed some other C-SEC officers and we nodded in acknowledgment of each other. Some were going home after a long shift while others were stating their morning. I recognized most of them; I used to be assigned to that part of the Wards, before I was shot.

The young salarian broke my train of thought when he popped up next to me, tapping away at his omnitool, and commented, "The human is not here this morning."

"Nope. She's going shopping for human things today," I said. "And her name's Ally."

"Naming pets forms attachments to them," he deadpanned, smirking a little as he got on the elevator. I sighed and followed him in, electing to say nothing.

A reporter droned on about the Reapers through the elevator's speakers, citing rising death tolls and costs to maintain the fleets. I attempted to tune them out while Tectis' face seemed to fall at the numbers being listed off. He stared blankly at his omnitool's screen for a moment before lowering it all together. "We do the most good here. Logical to stay," he said, sounding more like he was talking to himself.

I replied anyway. "We do. We make sure that everyone has a safe place to run to when everything goes nova."

"Doesn't seem like much in the face of everything happening out there," he said, still listening to the incoming reports.

"If you look at it that way, no one's doing much of anything, besides Commander Shepard," I said, still trying to drown out the reports.

"Simply wondering if I'm doing what I can to save the most possible."

For once I was thankful the elevator rides took so long because it gave me time to think of a response. "All we can do," I started, "is do our jobs and try to help where we can. Neither of us would make very good soldiers."

He snorted, "We both know you didn't, but that doesn't mean I couldn't be."

I flexed my mandibles in mock indignation. "I was an excellent soldier! I just didn't like ships very much. Too cramped."

The elevator doors opened, revealing the Docks and we got out. The reporter faded to a drone, then nothing as the door shut behind us. "And lacking in humans."

I sidled up close to him and leered down at his returning grin, "What makes you think I didn't miss seeing salarians everyday?"

"Planning to invite a salarian home and give him money to shop with?"

We were nearing the security checkpoint. I put a hand to my heart in a dramatic fashion I'd seen asari in particularly bad movies use before. "Is that an offer to move in with me? All my dreams are coming true at last!"

The turian officer that waved us through seemed appalled, but his asari partner looked sad. I waved to her as we passed and she forced a smile and mouthed something that my translator told me meant, "Good luck."

"You've ruined any chances you had with her," my amused partner informed me as we reached our desk, looking back towards security. "I've been reliably informed that she found you highly attractive."

I glanced back in her direction as I got a Tupari. "I swear, dear, she meant nothing to me," I joked. The truth was, I'd never really understood the attraction of such a squishy species.

Good mood restored, we started in on our morning paperwork before going on our first patrol of the day. The night shift manned the desk while we went out. Things were always quiet during that time of the morning; it was too late for the rush of refugees, who were still sleeping, and too early for the criminals, who preferred to ply their trade when no one else could see them do so.

The peace of this morning, however, was broken by the angry yells of a baratarian and a human who were glaring at a human who was built like a krogan with a slightly smaller head. The two smaller aliens were so enraged that I couldn't even tell what they were saying, but the cards and credit chits spread across the table told their own story well enough. The burly one leaned back in his chair, waiting for them to finish their tirade. He was the only one to look our way when we stopped by.

"Alright, what's going on here?" I asked, not really because I felt confused, but more because that's what we always asked in situations like this. I was prepared when they turned towards us, still making angry, jerky gestures in the direction of the triumphant looking one and talking too incoherently for my translator to pick up on. I nodded every once and a while to placate them while Tectis began cataloging the scene.

After a while he came up next to me and said, "Small human." I nodded.

He had his cuffs on the smaller human before he was even aware of what was happening. I had the batarian in a similar predicament. But while his arrest had gone silent with shock, mine had gotten even more irate, if that was possible. He squirmed, trying to hit me as I subdued him, my knee pinning his lower back to the floor. I stayed put while Tectis left his quarry and approached the larger human, who held out his hands and grinned, saying, "I think I'd rather do this the easy way."

The baratarian finally began to stop bucking, and coldly said, "I demand to know what the charges are."

"Illegal gambling," my partner replied for me.

"And you're getting resisting arrest," I flatly informed the alien as I hauled him to his feet. He began to struggle again, but I was able to keep him moving without too much trouble. The two humans, one in shock and the other amused, followed Tectis without incident.

We'd figured out early on that thanks to our understaffed conditions it was more productive to have only one of us filling out incident reports at a time while the other continued patrols. It was his turn to do the paperwork, so I dropped everyone off at security and returned to the desk. The night shift gratefully retired, giving me cheerful, if tired, waves good-bye.

A few people came up to my desk, mostly asking for help with their processing paperwork, but occasionally lodging a complaint. One grievance in particular caught my attention: someone was stealing refugee food supplies. It seemed like something two people should work on and it was nearing lunch anyways, so I decided that Tectis and I would handle it later in the day if nothing more urgent came up.

Though it was my break, I didn't leave my station. It didn't feel right to leave it unmanned, even for the half hour, even on such a relatively quiet day. Instead I grabbed a prepackaged lunch from the vending machine and fiddled with my omnitool, bored. I surfed through my contact list at random, and spotted Ally's name. It occurred to me that she was probably free to talk, so I called her.

She picked up a few seconds later. "Hello?"

"Hey," I said awkwardly. I never understood the human habit of saying 'hello?' at the beginning of a call. Even if caller ID couldn't identify someone, I'm pretty sure that seeing them on the screen gave them away. It must have been a cultural thing. "So, how's the shopping going?"

She smiled, "Great! I picked up some groceries this morning; they're already back at your house. I'm getting some clothes and shampoo and stuff now. Thanks." She sounded almost shy at the last part.

"Not a problem. I'm glad to hear it's going so well. I wasn't sure you'd be able to find everything," I said, leaning back in my chair.

She gestured excitedly with her free hand at the Wards around her as she said, "I know, right? But the selection here is amazing. Did you know that elcor use shampoo, too? They have the best sense of smell. I feel like I'm in an expensive perfume shop in their cheapest section."

"That's not surprising. They communicate emotion through scent," I informed her.

"Is that why they all talk like robots?" She looked like she was lost in thought for a moment before looking back at the screen. "See, someday I'm gonna catch you doing something all weird and alieny."

I felt my mandibles flare into a smile, "What if I don't ever do anything that you think is weird?"

"You have metal plates on top of your skin and your voice is all flangy. You have to do something odd at some point."

Tectis popped his head over my shoulder. I nearly fell back in surprise, letting out a short yell and flailing my arms wildly. He steadied the back of my chair before coming around to stand in front of me and commandeering my wrist. "You must be Ally," he said.

"Yes? Who are you?" she asked, peering at him curiously.

He looked up at me. "Haven't told her about me? I'm wounded."

I pulled back my wrist, frowning at him. "He's an awful influence and if you ever see him in person you should yell 'stranger danger' at the top of your lungs until he goes away."

"But really, who is he? I saw C-SEC colors." she insisted, twisting her screen as if that would give her a better view of him. "Is he your partner? I think I've seen him with you before."

"Tectis," he introduced himself, leaning in over my omnitool. "Dellix is my partner, yes."

"And we've got to go now. Bye!" I said, tapping the button that ended the call.

He looked up at me. "You don't want us meeting."

"Not until you stop calling her a pet. She's still adjusting to just being on the Citadel and without her parents. I want to let her adjust before exposing her to your eccentricities."

"So protective. Almost as if she were your own young." He looked at me thoughtfully. "Ever considered settling down?"

"Yes," I answered promptly. "But between my hours and this war that's not happening any time soon."

"Is she a replacement?"

"A replacement kid? No. Just a naive kid who looked like she could use the help," I said.

"Hmm," was all he said, still looking thoughtful. "If I promise my best behavior, can I meet her?"

I considered it for a moment. "Sure. You can come over for dinner tomorrow night, but only if you promise."

"Deal," he said, looking serious.

We sat there for a time while he ate his lunch and did something with his omnitool. To this day, I don't know what he was always doing on that thing. For all I know he could have been doing anything from coordinating one of the Citadel's new militias to playing Skyllian Five on the extranet.

After a while I remembered the complaint about the missing refugee food and showed the report to the equally curious salarian sitting at the desk with me. We decided to call one of the officers from the security desk to come field any complaints or questions while we investigated.

We questioned all the volunteer leaders of each camp separately. Each one reported similar problems, but no one had any theories about who had done it. I expected the batarian leader to blame the humans, or vice versa, yet they didn't. It was a pleasant change, don't get me wrong, but it didn't leave us with any leads.

It was by pure chance, as we were passing the turian food storage, we saw a group of young turians, their carapaces still soft and their mandibles not yet grown in, loading their arms up with rations. We all looked at each other for a split second before one of them yelled, "C-SEC!"

They all scattered. I reached for the nearest one on instinct, but she managed to skitter away, my talons barely brushing her. She followed another pair ducking into a nearby duct. The rest had all disappeared.

Tectis jumped down from the crates he'd been scrambling across attempting to catch one of them. "Duct rats," he said, sighing.

I echoed the sentiment. It wasn't like we didn't sympathize with their situation. They were hungry and suddenly they'd found a part of the Citadel storing large quantities of food with little means of protecting it. The problem was, they weren't the only ones who needed that food.

There was nothing we could do about it either way, though. Duct rats fell out of our jurisdiction. Protocol dictated that we return to our desk and file a report on them for Juvenile Services. It required obscene amounts of paperwork, even more than the average ridiculous amount. On the way back to our desk my partner reminded me that it was my turn to do it.

I stumbled home that evening with eyes that were bleary from a computer screen, hands that were cramped from typing all afternoon, and a sore ass from not being able to get out of one of the most uncomfortable chairs I'd ever sat in for hours.

But instead of arriving home to the empty apartment I was used to, I arrived to Expel 10 drifting through the house from the living room where Ally sat, redoing her nails.

"Hey kid," I greeted her.

"Hey. You want me to do your talons when I'm done with my nails?" she offered, now sporting a dark purple paint.

I relaxed into the couch, letting the music wash over me. "The red still hasn't faded," I informed her, pulling off my gloves to let her look.

"I could get it off with some nail polish remover, if you wanted," she said.

I shrugged internally. "Sure, why not?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

I'd just finished putting the final touches on Dellix's talons when I looked up to see that he had quietly fallen asleep. For a while I just looked at him; it was rare to have a chance to see an alien so close. His mandibles were slack and fluttered slightly with each breath. It was the only sign that he was breathing at all, really, with his armor disguising any movement of his chest. He was slumped sleepily into the couch in a pose that I though couldn't be comfortable, but, then again, it seemed like nothing besides standing would be comfortable with a figure like a turian's.

I shook the large, surprisingly light hand that I held in my own gently and said, "Dellix, come on. You can't sleep out here two nights in a row." I felt bad about waking him up when he was so tired, but it seemed really uncomfortable, the way he was laying there.

One of his thin, slitted eyes opened and he protested, "I'm fine right here."

I snorted and he grinned sleepily. "What?"

"I just think it's funny how universal that gesture is," he said before yawning, exposing dozens of sharp little teeth and a snakelike, blue-violet tongue.

"It seems like most species have them in common." I looked at the digital clock next to the TV. "Now, seriously, we both need our sleep, and I'm not going to bed until I know you have."

"This entire conversation is so backwards. I should be the one telling you to go to bed," he complained, suddenly getting to his feet and swaying for a bit before turning back towards me. "Now you have to sleep, too."

I smiled up at him, "Yes, sir. Good night."

"G'night, kid," he mumbled, heading off towards his room.

I was going to bed, but first I had a call to make. I picked up my omnipad and typed in the mailing address Morlia had sent as an attachment with her first message. I'd been meaning to call her all day, but I had all the shopping, then I washed Julia's PJs and returned them to her, and that turned into afternoon tea, and then I got back, showered, and had dinner, and then I wanted to look nice for the call, so I started painting my nails... Time simply slipped away from me.

"Hi, Morlia," I addressed the screen. "I'm fine." I leaned in closer to the screen and stage whispered, "You see, I burned my draft card and I still haven't met any drell." I leaned back again and continued talking normally. "I hear they're pretty rare, even on the Citadel.

"Staying with Dellix has been nice. He's been super cool and his spare bedroom is gorgeous. It's windows have this great view of the Wards. If C-SEC's willing to pay me a fraction of what they must be paying him, I'll consider joining when I'm old enough. Never planned on becoming a farmer or whatever, so, why not, right?

"But enough about me. How's army life treating you? They forcing you to get up at the 'asscrack of dawn'? Are your rations as bad as the ones at the refugee camps? Because if you want to go AWOL I think I could convince Dellix to hide you out here. Call me back, okay? And make your message longer then 'not dead'."

I turned off the camera and reviewed my message before sending it. Once that was all in order I went to bed and slept.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up the next morning to Dellix calling, "Ally, it's time to get up!"

Outside, the Wards were still in night cycle, star light and artificial light mixing almost interchangeably in the predawn hours. I turned on the bedroom light and dressed in one of my new outfits, a Citadel style dress that made me feel all grown up wearing it. It would have been formal wear back home. I tied my hair up in my normal ponytail and went to join Dellix for breakfast.

He was already back in his armor and nuking a burrito-like thing in a lime green tortilla when I got there. Noticing I'd come in he said, "I forgot to tell you last night, but Tectis is coming for dinner tonight. I thought we could order in, avoid any allergy issues. There's this great multi-species delivery place not too far from here. Or, at least, their turian food is good," he trailed off, frowning a little.

"That sounds nice," I said, grabbing a breakfast burrito from the freezer, "but what happened to 'stranger danger'?"

He chuckled, grabbing his food. "He promised to behave, and he knows what I'll do to him if he doesn't."

I began cooking my own breakfast. "He looked nice when I saw him."

"Yeah, he's nice. I think you'll like him. You almost ready to leave?" he asked, beginning to start on his breakfast.

I grabbed my own food. "Yep. I can eat this on the way. Let's go."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The galaxy looked infinite as I stared out into the void. My parents were somewhere out there, but, the problem was, they could have been anywhere out there. With the thousands of planets they could have been evacuated to instead of the Citadel, it was probably silly to think that they would land on this single space station, in the exact same area of the Docks I was working in. That didn't mean I didn't still expect them every time I saw a human made ship dock. I couldn't shake this feeling that I'd be seeing them again soon.

"Hey," Dellix said, interrupting my thoughts. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you."

I turned away from the stars and towards the two aliens in C-SEC uniforms. Like every non-turian officer Tectis didn't wear armor, but a casual looking T-shirt and cargo pants in dark blue with the official insignia sewn in. Even amongst his own short lived species I had the feeling that he was young. He had the wide eyes every salarian posessed, bright with curiosity and intelligence. He examined me as I looked him over.

I stepped forward first, extending a hand, which he took. His hand felt weird in mine, long and thin and almost scaly, but not quite. As we shook hands he reintroduced himself. "Tectis. Nice to meet you."

"Same here. I'm Ally," I said cheerfully.

On the way to Dellix's house he kept up a string of funny stories about some of the odder cases they'd done together. The large turian seemed content to simply let him keep the conversation going, only adding little comments here and there. Every once and a while the salarian would look ready to say something, but then he'd glance at Dellix and seem to change his mind.

Once we got to the apartment the chatter naturally died out as we ordered our food. Deciding that it was my turn to entertain, I brought up the next topic. "So, has Dellix told you about Morlia?"

"Some. She's in the asari army, yes?" he asked, sipping on some of the orange soda I'd bought the day before. When he first tried it his eyes had bulged out comically and I had to assure him that it was supposed to bubble like that.

The doorbell rang and Dellix went to answer it. "Yeah. She only joined a couple of days ago, but I already miss her."

"Why not exchange vid messages?"

"We have been, but I've only got one from her so far. All that she said in it really was that she was alive and that I better be too," I explained as Dellix came back into the room with the food in hand. The packaging was color coded, blue for turians, a pretty orangey-pink for salarians, and dark red for humans.

Tectis helped him pull the food out of the bags while he commented, "Seems like an odd sentiment, from a soldier to a civilian."

I giggled. "I don't think she was completely sure that I'd be a civilian. She said that by the time I'd gotten her message, I'd have probably been drafted into the elcor army." They chuckled, too, Tectis at how silly that was, and Dellix at how accurate. "Either that or lured into something compromising by Fornax." My temporary guardian stopped laughing, but his partner was having some trouble doing the same. "That reminds me, what is Fornax?"

I watched in confusion as Tectis practically fell over, he was laughing so hard. Dellix automatically took his drink and set it on the table when it looked ready to spill, but he did it distantly. Abruptly, he turned back towards the food. "We should plate this up before it gets cold."

Weirded out by his behavior, I turned back towards the salarian, who looked like he was beginning to control himself. "I take it you know then?"

"Yes," was his quick reply. I waited for him to elaborate, but he started to dish up his food instead. He was biting his lower lip, but he was still grinning.

"Are you going to tell me?" I ventured, putting my own food onto a plate.

"No," Dellix said. He had that thousand yard stare I'd seen on soldiers landing in the Docks before.

I stared at them both for a minute while I thoughtfully chewed on my dinner. I barely tasted it, intent on the mystery before me. Willing him to tell me, I stared at Tectis. He was so close to saying something, I knew.

"It's a magazine-"

"Tectis."

"Relax. Promised best behavior," he said, before turning back towards me. "It is a magazine of various species doing odd things to each other."

"So it's aliens being all weird and alieny?" I clarified.

"Yes," they said together, pleased that I accepted this explanation.

But I had something else in mind. "Does that mean that it has turians being all weird and alieny?"

Dellix's mandibles drooped in shock once he understood my line of questioning. He closed it quickly and said, "No. No turians. We're not weird at all, remember?" He looked a little bit desperate, so I decided to drop it. Around him, anyway. I could probably get Teresa to explain it to me.

"Never mind then," I said, smiling sweetly.

We all ate quietly for a bit. After a while, Tectis broke the silence. "I have a copy of the new Blasto."

"Good. Let's do that," Dellix said, already half out of his chair and headed towards the TV.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I liked Blasto. His world was simple, made of explosions and scantily clad asari. He never had to explain interspecies fetishes to an underaged human or plan how to sneak into a war zone and murder a former mercenary. Or maybe he did do the latter one. I don't know; all his vids start to blend together after a while. Maybe if I could find that vid, I could use it as a guide.

"Dellix, I'm going home now. The movie's over."

I looked away from the now blank screen and towards my partner. I nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Make sure he goes to bed. I think you broke him," I heard him say to Ally. She said something back, but I was already headed towards my room. Sleep was a wonderful idea.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

It was two more days before I got my next message from Morlia.

In that time I'd managed to convince Julia to explain what Fornax was to me, explained to Dellix that I knew what porn was, and gotten to know Tectis a bit better.

Dellix was so relieved when he found out he didn't have to give me The Talk. Sometimes I thought that man saw me as being much younger than I was. Back home people tended to do the same thing. I was always the last person to hear about any scandal or rumor and the swear jar always seemed to be more strictly enforced when people knew I was around. I'm not even sure what I did to make people act that way. I mean, I'm a very mature and observant person. Maybe it was the blond hair; I'd considered dying it brown before.

Well, whatever the people I greeted down at the Docks thought of my appearant age, they kept it to themselves. I did a lot of work down there, often arriving just as the 'sun' began to 'rise' on the Citadel and leaving with my temporary guardian when his shift ended, often well after the night cycle started. For all it's difficulty, that job had a lot of rewards, too. I made a lot of new friends amongst the humans.

Still, I think one of the best friends I made on the Citadel was Dellix. For all of our differences, we were really very similar people, deep down. He took me in after knowing me for only a week and let me paint his talons on a regular basis. Who could have a better friend than that?

That made it harder when I heard a rumor about the turian army. Word around the Docks was that things were getting bad enough that they were going to implement a draft on all turians under forty, regardless of their current occupation. People mainly seemed to be worried that the draft would leave C-SEC even more understaffed than it currently was. I was worried that I didn't know how old Dellix was.

And I was also starting to worry about Morlia. She was right in the middle of the war, and if things were getting that desperate... The message she sent alleviated my fears for her, but strengthened other worries instead.

"Ally, you weren't supposed to get the first half of that message," she began. "I'm not good with these things. I haven't sent many vid messages before.

"You really don't want to join C-SEC, kid. The pay is awful and the hours are worse. I looked into it once or twice in my day, and it's not worth it. I don't know if Torrakas simply looks rich compared to whatever farm you grew up on or if he's got family money stashed away, but trust me, C-SEC is not worth what they'd pay you. It's a moot point anyway; you've got, what, another decade before you're declared an adult, right?

"Army life's not so bad, though. Food's terrible, hours are crap, and pay is nearly nonexistent, but I'm protecting the planet I grew up on. Looking at how many recruits we've got, I don't see how we won't have the homeworld back under asari control the second we touch down.

"They're retraining me to be a gunship pilot. Nothing much has changed, so the plan is that they'll send me out in a week or so. I'm set to join Talon company.

"Talk to you later," she said, this time turning the camera off on her own.

As I put away my omnipad I wondered what Morlia would think if I told her that I would legally be an adult about three years from then. I decided not to tell her; she had enough on her plate as it was. I was surprised they were sending her out into the field so quickly, even with prior experience. It made the threat of the draft much more real.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I'd gotten used to walking with Ally to work in the mornings. Typically, she would chatter about interesting people that she had met the day before, or odd things she'd seen around the shopping district of the Wards. Ever since she'd received that message from Morlia the night before. however, she'd been quiet. I'd asked her about what the asari had said, but Ally assured me that she was fine, better than fine, they'd given her a gunship. I took her word for it, and decided that something else must be bothering her, though I couldn't imagine what.

That morning as we walked she kept shooting worried, thoughtful glances my way. Disturbed, I finally asked, "What's wrong, kid? You haven't been yourself lately."

"It's nothing, just a rumor," she said, biting her lip worriedly.

I sighed loudly, "If you've heard the one about me and Tectis being partners in more ways than one, I can tell you now that it's not true."

She giggled, "Yeah, I figured that out when I heard it. That's not the one I'm thinking of."

I knew that already, but she looked like she needed a laugh. "So what are you so worried about?" I asked, hitting the call button on the elevator to the Docks.

We stood there for a while in silence, waiting for the elevator to come and for her to collect her thoughts.

"The war's getting bad," she began, speaking slowly, not looking at me. "And I've heard that the turian army is in need of troops. Really badly in need, actually. People say they're starting a draft."

"Is that what you've been worried about?" I exclaimed. She looked back up at the surprise in my voice.

Angry, she hissed, "Of course I'm worried. I've seen what the Reapers can do. You may look sharp and dangerous, but you have the soul of a teddy bear trapped in a grizzly's body. You would die."

The door pinged open and she stalked inside. I stood motionless outside, mandibles slack in shock. The door began to close, and I slipped inside after her. She'd mentioned bits and pieces of her past before, but never anything about what happened when the Reapers came. I was shocked to hear her talk about it now.

"I'm not going to die," I said. She began to protest, but I cut her off. "There is no draft. Even if there was, I would be exempt because I'm in C-SEC. Protecting the Citadel is on par with protecting the homeworld, in many respects."

"Oh," she said, deflating a little. She looked a bit sheepish about having snapped at me before.

The door opened to the Docks and we stepped out. "You didn't seem to think Morlia would die," I said, my pride a bit wounded. I really was a good soldier.

"She has biotics, a gunship, and fifty years as a mercenary," she replied, shrugging.

I debated whether or not to bring up the Reapers again, but ultimately decided against it. She would talk when she was ready.

"Say hi to Verner for me," I said instead as we parted.

She nodded, "Will do. Say hi to Tectis for me." And then she walked away, looking no different then she did any other morning.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

The officers on night shift were sleeping on the desk by the time I got there. Tectis was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to wait for him before going on our morning patrol. The near silence was occasionally disturbed by a loud snore from the human officer at the desk, interrupting my peace and quiet. I considered poking at him until he woke up, but decided that it would be cruel when there was nothing happening and he looked so tired.

So I sipped my Tupari and waited. And then waited some more. The refugees were beginning to wake up and mill around in the false light by the time I started to worry. I checked my messages, finding nothing, then sent him one reading: Where are you? He'd mentioned joining the army, but I hadn't taken him seriously. Besides, he would have sent me a message had that been the case.

Eventually I realized that the night shift would have to leave soon and went on patrol by myself. Things were quiet and, for the most part, I was only asked directions by newly arrived refugees. None of them were human, I'd noticed. Ally must have been doing a good job of explaining how the Docks worked to them. Even with the general lack of crime, I didn't like not having someone to watch my six.

I almost didn't recognize him when I did see him, down in front of the memorial. He was wearing civilian clothes and had his arm around a weeping human woman. He didn't appear to even have his omnitool with him, a first, since I'd known him. I continued on my patrol quietly.

Upon returning to my desk I found the two officers, drowsy but awake, talking to a third officer, an older turian. They gestured towards me as they spoke, and he turned my way. Apparently, Tectis had called in a sick day and they'd given me a temporary partner until he was feeling better.

During lunch I told Ally about it. When I finished speaking she leaned back and asked, "You have no idea who this woman is? I thought you two were partners for the past couple of years?"

I'd trained him when he was still a rookie. He was my second partner; the first had retired. When I said that I was considering requesting a permanent transfer to the Docks, he'd done the same. He was one of my best friends as well as my partner, yet I knew next to nothing about him.

"Yeah, but he doesn't really talk about himself a lot," I answered, staring at the sad, wilty looking green stuff on her plate next to the odd looking meat she called chicken. I'd asked her what it tasted like once and she said 'everything'. I wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"Curiouser and curiouser," she commented. "Why do you think that is? Oh, maybe has a mysterious past as a criminal overlord and is attempting to atone through good works!" She sounded excited.

I poked her in the forehead. " I think you watch too many mystery vids."

"It could happen!"

"So he retired from a successful criminal empire when he was twelve to round up drunks and illegal gamblers?" I teased.

She frowned. "I guess not. But what's up with him, then?"

"I don't know."

We talked for a while longer, until she saw what looked like a human ship preparing to dock. "Got to go. I'll see you when it's time to home, okay?" she said.

I waved in response, surprised by her use of the word "home". Before she'd always used it to refer to her colony. I wondered what inspired the change.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

Dellix looked like he was lost in thought as I left. Tectis must have been bothering him something fierce. I wished I could help, but it wasn't like I could just leave the volunteers high and dry and after dark Dellix didn't like me going out alone. I decided to send him a vid message instead.

"Hey, Tectis, your partner is worried. Talk to him, will you? We know you aren't sick." I reviewed it and sent it, wishing I could do more.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, after another long day, I returned Morlia's message before getting ready to tuck in for the night. I sat in front of my window so that she could catch a glimpse of the view I got to see every day. It really was pretty, the way it looked out over what seemed like the entire Ward, with the real stars shining in the sky rather than the projection of a sunny sky they used during the day cycle.

I straightened my hair real quick and turned on the camera. "Hey Morlia. Good to know you're enjoying the army so much. You make army life sound so glamorous, they should use you in their recruitment vids. You're almost as convincing as that one batarian we saw while you were signing up.

"Seriously, though, are you okay?" I asked, worry coloring my voice. "Because even with prior experience a week does not seem like nearly enough training. I looked it up on the extranet earlier and it said that before the asari army would take at least a year training each recruit. AWOL is always an option, that's all I'm saying.

"Things here are nice. Dellix introduced me to his partner Tectis and his neighbor Julia, and they're good people. You'd like them, I think. Especially Tectis. I'll introduce you when you get back. Bye," I said, with a smile and a little wave.

I gathered up my pajamas and bath supplies and trundled off towards the bathroom. A short shower later, I emerged feeling refreshed, ready to go to Julia's. I had enough dirty clothes to call a load, but the first- and only- time I'd used Dellix's washer it turned out that even minute traces of each other's detergents were enough to cause a minor allergic reaction in each of us. After that we decided it would be best if I just used our human neighbor's washing machine.

"Dellix, I'm going to wash my clothes!" I called out as I headed towards the door.

"Say hi to Teresa for me!" he replied from what sounded like the direction of the kitchen.

"Yep! Be back soon!"

I opened the door to a surprised looking salarian, hand inches from the doorbell. "Hey," I greeted him, moving to let him pass me into the apartment.

"Hello," Tectis said, recovering quickly and coming in. "Dellix?"

"Kitchen, I think. I got to go, but I'll see you later, yeah?" I said heading across the hall to ring Julia's doorbell.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I heard Ally and Tectis talking from where I stood in front of the fridge, trying to decide what I wanted. I grabbed a Tupari and headed for the living room just in time to see the door close behind my young partner, still wearing civilian clothing. It was weird to see him like that; even when we hung out after work we were almost always still in uniform. I was still in my armor when he came over.

"Hey," I greeted him. "Feeling better?"

"Wasn't a death in the family," he said, plopping down on the couch.

I nodded in understanding as I went to join him. Thanks to personnel shortages, C-SEC officers were being... discouraged from taking a day off for anything less than a death of a family member or being practically bedridden with illness. "So what really happened?"

"Father called to ask me to comfort a family friend. Her wife died in the war. He's with her now."

I sipped my drink. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"So was I," he said tiredly.

"I thought you went off to be a soldier," I informed him suddenly. "You were talking about it before."

He smiled wanly. "Realized we were already at war here. Just waiting for this to become the battlefield."

He was right. The Reapers wouldn't leave the heart of intergalactic politics alone forever. It was damn depressing just waiting for it, though. "Let's get drunk," I suggested.

He smiled for real that time. "Even if you had alcohol that worked on both our systems, it wouldn't work. My metabolism would keep me from getting drunk and you'd have a hangover tomorrow."

"Wanna watch some Blasto then?" I asked, drinking my now disappointingly non-alcoholic Tupari.

"Which part? I've got one through five on my omnitool." He already was scrolling through his movie list for them.

I walked over to the TV. "I've got the director's cuts of one and two."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

I returned to see the boys watching another Blasto movie. Dellix spotted me and motioned for me to come join them. I put up a finger and mouthed, "One minute."

After hanging up my clothes I returned and whispered, "What's happened so far?"

"Some volus with really bad acting skills just killed off Blasto's most recent love interest because-"

"Shh!" Tectis admonished us. "The plot doesn't matter. An amazing action scene is coming up."

It was nice to see that everything was back to normal.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"I have a half day coming up in about a week," Dellix told me over breakfast the next morning, sleepily sipping on what I assumed was the turian version of coffee. It was dark green and steaming and sticky looking. I decided that it was suitably weird and alieny, at least for the time being. I'd catch him with something stranger someday.

"I thought they weren't giving you time off any more," I said, frowning at how unfair that was. Back at the colony my favorite time of the school year had been vacation time.

His mandibles flared out into a smile. "If they did that they'd have protests on the streets. They've cut it back to three half days off a month instead. I would ignore it, but I thought it would be a good chance to take Teresa out, as a thanks. Do you want to come?"

"Okay." I sipped my own hot cocoa, grateful that we weren't in a rush that morning. Dellix accidentally set his alarm an hour early and woke me up while he was half asleep. I was already dressed and ready to go when I spotted a clock. We decided to just stay up after that.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" was his reply.

I stared at him and said, "You know, what are we doing?"

"I don't know. I figured that we could just wander the shopping district until something catches our eyes. It's up to Teresa, really." He took another drink of his jello/moss looking stuff.

"Sounds like fun. I haven't seen much of the Wards since I went shopping," I said, glad for a reason to explore the beautiful space station again.

He took out his omnitool and checked the time. "Come on, it's time to get going," he said, putting aside his drink and getting up from the couch. I gulped down the rest of my cocoa and did the same.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

"I hate when our time off doesn't coincide," Tectis informed me, leaning back in his chair at our desk.

"But, dear, we'll be forever together in our hearts," I drawled flatly. Nothing was happening and I was getting very bored.

He heaved a dramatic sigh. "They always stick me with someone even more incompetent than you when you're gone. Would've thought it impossible, if I hadn't seen for myself."

"You say the sweetest things."

Our omnitools began to flash at the same time. "Finally," I said, already running towards the coordinates of the call placed, Tectis not too far behind me.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

waited for Dellix at his desk, starting to worry. Normally he came by and picked me up from my spot near the Docking Bay. When he hadn't shown up I went looking for him instead. The unfamiliar asari officer at the desk was no help at all; she kept saying that she couldn't give out information on officers in the middle of a case. He'd given me a spare key to the apartment in case there was ever a time when he couldn't go home with me, but I never thought I'd have to use it.

My omnipad blinked, signaling an incoming message. I opened it quickly, not even bothering to check who it was first. "Hi, Ally," Morlia greeted me, looking hurried. "Listen, this may be my last message for a while. They're shipping a few of us out even earlier than usual and I head out tomorrow. I know it's a little short notice, but they need as many experienced fighters on the field as soon as possible. We don't have the luxury of year long training anymore...

Anyway, it's good to hear that you're making friends. I look forward to meeting them when this is all over. I'm curious to see why you think I'd like this Tectis guy. 

We'll be seeing each other before you know it, you'll see. I've just got to go light up some Reapers first. Bye."

I stared at the replay button on the screen, feeling half a dozen different ways at once. I was angry at the asari army, for throwing her out into battle so quickly. Morlia, herself, made me feel proud to be able to call her my friend, as well as scared for her life. Seeing that the message wasn't from Dellix left me worried about where he'd gone off to and mad at myself for still thinking of that when another friend was about to go fight giant, sentient, medal squid/bug things.

In the end I decided that I should send her a message back and hope that it reached her before she was shipped out. I stepped away from the desk, as well as the now sympathetic looking officer and found a window looking out at the arriving ships to lean against.

I didn't really know where to start, so when the camera came on I simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I guess it's too late to go AWOL now." The corners of my mouth tilted upwards in a sad smile. "Not that I ever really thought you would. I've hoped, sure, but I always knew you wouldn't.

"I'm proud of you, for that, and for being you in general, really. God, we met, what, two weeks ago? And you're already one of the best friends I've ever had.

"But I'm starting to sound all cheesy and depressing now, talking like you're going off to die," I said, wiping away some pesky tears that were threatening to spill over, grinning instead. "I'll see you when you get back. We can have a sleep over in your sleeping bag, for old times' sake. Bye, Morlia."

I sent it, my back still pressed against the cool metal and glass of the Citadel.

It seemed like ever since I'd gotten to the Citadel I'd done way too much almost-crying. I wasn't even quite sure why it kept happening. Everyone I cared about was alive and they were all probably going to remain that way for a while yet (even the ones who were far away). I had food and shelter and a shower and all the other necessities I needed. Compared to most other people I had it good. It must have been hormones, I decided.

I didn't even notice Dellix coming up to me until he was literally waving an armored talon in front of my face, I was so lost in thought. "You awake in there, kid?" he asked.

"Yep, just thinking. Busy day?" I peeled myself from the wall.

He said, "Yeah. A case ran a little longer than expected. Sorry that I kept you waiting."

"No problem, but it must have been quite a case. Normally we leave almost as soon as your shift's over. It's not like you to work late," I said as we passed through the security check. The sleepy guard waved us through.

He chuckled, pressing the elevator's call button. "Actually, it's very 'like' me; I've just been making sure that it hasn't been since you moved in. This is the longest number of consecutive nights that I've slept in my own bed for a long time."

"I've only been living with you for a little over a week!" I exclaimed.

He smiled at me and nodded. "I stand by my statement."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I watched Ally thoughtfully as she repainted my talons yet again, a soft 'coral' pink this time. Normally she got a kick out of painting them, but she'd been quiet and subdued for the past three days, ever since Morlia got shipped out. She kept insisting that she was fine; I doubted it. I don't think the asari was the only thing on her mind, though. She hadn't mentioned her parents for quite a while. I think she was trying to avoid... wondering about what happened to them, why they hadn't come yet. Watching a friend disappear into the universe like they had must have been awful.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ally asked, turning my hand over so that she could get a better angle.

I forced a smile. No need to bring up something painful. "You still haven't told me why you really paint your nails."

"I paint mine because it looks pretty," she said, matter-of-factly, "but I paint yours because it's funny."

"What happened to 'luck and prosperity'?" I huffed in a parody of indignation.

She smiled a soft, private smile and said, "Because now you'll let me, even knowing why I really do it. I wasn't sure if you would before. It was on my bucket list, you know, painting a turian's talons. Now all I've got left is bungee jumping and and getting a doctorate in something."

"What else was on it?" I asked, curious.

She appeared to mentally tally them off as she said, "Milk a cow, kiss a boy, kiss a girl, stay up 72 hours straight, see the Citadel, try salarian food, and watch the elcor version of Hamlet. I'm going to keep adding stuff as I get older, but that's my current list. What about you?"

I started to shrug, but stopped before I accidentally messed up her painting. "I don't know. I've never made one."

Her eyes lit up and she practically bounced in her seat, grinning ear to ear. "Well, you have to make one now! Come on, what have you always wanted to do?"

I scratched the back of my head with my free hand and thought. "Well, I've always wanted to find a bondmate," I began, "and I've always wanted kids. Lots of them, actually."

"That's a good start," she encouraged.

"I'd also like to try quarian food some day, but they have little of it as it is, and sell it for ridiculously high prices. That's all, really." I smiled. "I'm a man of simple tastes."

"It's okay, you can always add later. Here, I think I'm done. Don't touch anything," she said, returning my hand.

"Yeah, I guess there's always later."

I blew on my talons to speed the drying while I watched Ally paint her nails the same color. It went considerably quicker, probably because there was less space for the polish. She smiled as she worked, distracted from her troubles for the moment. As I watched her little hands I decided that I'd spend the rest of my life distracting her if I had to. Watching that smile disappear as more days passed was unthinkable.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

We had just finished eating dinner at a little, out of the way restaurant and were beginning to comb our way through one of the Ward's many gift shops when my stomach began to clench in pain and the first wave of nausea started. Ahead, Julia and Dellix hadn't noticed; she was busy trying to explain what was so funny about a figurine of a volus in a hula skirt to him.

I left the postcard section where I'd been looking at several scenic views of the Citadel to join them. My voice came out faint and shaky when I said, "Hey, guys, I don't feel so good."

Teresa pressed the back of her hand against my forehead and tsked. "It feels like you're getting a bit of a fever, dear. Come on, we should get you to bed. I thought that pork looked a little pink."

Her calm didn't seem to reassure Dellix, though. "Are you sure we shouldn't take her to a doctor?" he asked, alarmed by my shivering. He grabbed a nearby hoodie at random and bundled me into it. It was two sizes too big and proclaimed 'I visited Commander Shepard's favorite store on the Citadel!' in obnoxious hot pink writing on a bright yellow background. I snuggled into it's warmth, wondering how he knew what it meant when a human shivered.

"I'm sure. You just need some rest, don't you, Ally?" she asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I nodded and the movement made me gag a little as I felt the puke creeping up. "And maybe a bucket," she amended.

He practically threw his credit chit at the store clerk, paying for the jacket quickly so that we could leave. Once we were outside he typed something into his omnitool. A little over a minute later an unmanned cab flew up and we climbed in.

Inside the cab I stuck my head between my knees to keep from throwing up. Sitting beside me, Julia rubbed my back in comforting circles. Dellix watched anxiously from the front. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

"Not really. Nature will just have to run its course," Julia said.

I think I fell asleep a little while after that because the next thing I knew I was being carried by my large turian friend up some stairs.

"Sorry," I whispered weakly.

He looked down at me. "What for?"

"For ruining your day off," I said.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. That chef on the other hand..." He had a dangerous look in his eye, and I was surprised to feel a growl rumbling in his chest through his civilian clothes.

I laughed weakly at him. "You're a silly man, Dellix."

"You're pretty silly yourself, kid."

When we reached the top of the stairs he turned towards the elevator and waited. The doors pinged open after a while and Teresa stepped out. "Good, you're awake." She bustled past us and opened the door to our apartment.

They set me down in my room to change into pajamas while they made up the couch with my sheets and blanket so that I could watch TV while I rested. When I came out Julia had disappeared into the kitchen and Dellix was fiddling with the remote, trying to find something I could watch without having to really pay attention to it. We scrolled through a bunch of channels, finally settling on a trippy, educational, salarian children's cartoon whose title I can't remember because it was literally seventeen words long. I remember counting.

We were both surprised when not too much later our neighbor came out with not only a bowl of soup for me, but also a dark purple soup that smelled like something had died horribly in it. She set the evil bowl in front of Dellix. "I've always wanted to try cooking with turian ingredients. Tell me what you think."

He obediently took a sip, and smiled at her warmly. "It's very good. Just the right amount of spice."

She grinned proudly and returned to the kitchen to get her own bowl. He immediately began making shooshing gestures with one hand while with the other he poured his soup into his poor, half-dead flower's vase. I decided to say nothing. There was no reason for both of us to have food poisoning.

I spent the rest of the night puking my brains out, but all in all, I think it was a good day.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

'Morlia T'Athana; Thessia; Reapers; shot down; died bravely; so sorry...' I scanned the message, confirming what I already knew when I opened my inbox only to find a message from Asari High Command. I stood and prepared to go home for the day. Ally had probably received the same message, and I didn't want her to deal with that alone. She was still at home, sick from the previous night's dinner.

"Dellix?" Tectis questioned, looking up from his omnitool.

"Morlia died," I answered, already typing a message to Julia asking her to go check on the kid.

"Ally's friend?" He sighed when I nodded. "What do you want me to tell the higher ups?"

I'd completely forgotten about them. After a moment of consideration I said, "...Tell them there was a death in the family." It was close enough.

Julia messaged me when I was halfway home, saying that she was up on the Presidium sorting out some paperwork that they must have sent to her by mistake. It was clear she couldn't check on Ally just yet. I cursed and sped up to a jog, taking the steps up to my apartment three at a time once I got there.

Inside I could hear, small, choked off sobs coming from the living room. I went towards the sounds silently. She didn't appear to notice me even as I sat on the other end of the couch, her arms hugging her knees to her chest. She looked so small curled in on herself like that. Unsure what to do, I spoke softly, "Ally?"

Faster then I could blink, she had her arms thrown around my neck and her face pressed against my armor. Through her renewed sobbing she tried to say something, but I had trouble understanding her. I tentatively wrapped my arms around her instead and tried to make soothing noises.

When she finally seemed to calm down a little, she started to speak again. "I've been so stupid," she said, her voice hoarse from crying. "I kept thinking- hoping- that she was going to come back, but no one ever comes back, do they?"

"It's never a bad thing to hope," I replied.

"But they're not coming back either, are they? My parents?"

I ran a talon through her hair, deciding how to answer her. Eventually I decided on the truth. "I don't think so, kid, but I've been wrong before."

She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I never even got to say good-bye. I thought I'd be seeing them again, so all I said was that I loved them and would see them later. They promised they'd come find me and I believed them."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV, about three weeks before

My dad was cooking omelets over a propane camp stove out in my aunt and uncle's backyard while my twin, eight year old cousins, Mikey and Gabe, played a game of tag nearby. Ever since the Reaper landed in the main city all the electricity, water, and gas had been shut off in order to avoid detection. We couldn't even take our main car out because it wouldn't run unless the GPS was on.

In the dining room my mom was with my Aunt Gemma and Uncle Jimmy, trying to convince them to come with us. They kept saying no, that they would take their chances and hide until the war was over. My uncle kept trying to tell her to stay instead, but my aunt knew her sister too well to ask.

Meanwhile, I was in the living room with my twelve year old cousin Valery and my dog, Duke Pawington III, or Duke, as everyone else called him. I stared at my cousin gravely. "I'm not giving him to you," I said, making sure that there was no confusion. "You're just taking care of him until the war's over and we can come back. We're probably going to Sanctuary, and they probably don't allow dogs. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," she said, biting her lip to keep from crying. Again.

"Stop that, will you? We'll be back. And we do come back, I want my dog." I smiled, glad to get back to my point.

Our conversation was cut short by my dad bringing in breakfast. He sent me out to wrangle up the twins, who refused to come in until I beat them in a duel. Breakfast was cold by the time we came in, but I didn't regret it. Besides me, the kids were the only ones who didn't act like the universe was ending. Well, it probably was, but being gloomy didn't help anything.

After we ate we all hugged each other good-bye and I piled into the old car with my parents. It was a relic that still had tires, ran on fossil fuel, and didn't have GPS. My dad kept it mainly because he liked working on it.

As we pulled away I waved to the rest of our family from the rear window. They all waved back to me except for Duke, obviously, and Valery, who'd started crying. Again.

For the first few hours I slept with my head on the car's window. When I woke up my parents had already changed places and my dad was driving. I looked out the window to see that we were on the back roads, which weren't even really roads. They weren't paved or anything and I don't think they were on any maps, but people used them like roads all the same.

"How much longer?" I mumbled from the back seat, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

In the rear-view mirror I could see my dad smile. "Just a few more hours, sunshine, then it's off to Sanctuary. You excited? It's your first time off-planet."

"I guess so. But why don't they let dogs in?"

My mom answered, "Because they only have so many supplies, and they need them for people. I'm sorry, but he really couldn't come."

"It's okay. I understand," I said, suppressing a sigh. I leaned my head on the glass again only to see a car parked to the side of the road in the distance. "Hey, it looks like their car broke down," I informed my parents.

My dad glanced their way and prepared to stop and offer a lift, but my mom stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Don't."

"Eliza?"

"Their car has GPS." Their eyes met and they had a silent conversation, like they did when I was in trouble and they were deciding how to punish me. His eyes flickered up to the rear view mirror and met mine briefly before he snapped them back to the road. The car sped up.

I blinked in shock. "What are you doing?" They said nothing. "Hey, those people need some help! Mom? Dad?" I looked out my window and watched their faces fall as we passed them. They were an old man and woman, probably in their sixties. I thought I'd seen them in church before.

No one said anything as my dad pulled off the make-shift road into nature, just going in the general direction of the city. And then we continued to say nothing when my dad stopped an hour later to pour two five gallon gas canisters into the gas tank and let my mom drive. It was another half hour after that when I decided to ask, "Are we gonna talk about it?"

"When you're older," my mom said, tightening her grip on the wheel.

Things got quiet again after that. I tried to sleep again, but I just kept seeing their faces fall as we sped past.

We were about an hour out from the city when we stopped for lunch. My dad flicked a raisin at me, and I tore a bit of my crust off and threw it at him. He threw more raisins at me. Before I knew it we were engaged in the most dastardly tickle war ever fought. My mom normally didn't get involved in our shenanigans, but my dad managed to drag her into it just that once. She knew all of his weak spots, so we teamed up and took him down.

"We are women, hear us roar!" I yelled over his giggling as my mom tickled his ribs.

"I surrender! Mercy!"

"No! Now offer me money!" I grabbed a nearby piece of celery and pointed it at him like a sword.

"But I am your father!" he protested.

I ignored him. "And power, too, promise me that!"

He gave up. "All that I have and more!"

"Offer me everything I ask for!"

"Everything you want! Just call her off!" He squirmed, trying to escape, but she was sitting on him.

I clapped my hands, delighted. "You have a deal! I demand your after lunch chocolate!"

My mom cleared her throat to get our attention. "You know, I'm rather comfy where I am. What's my incentive?"

"Half the spoils of war," I said after some consideration.

We all got back into the car once we'd finished our candy. My dad got to keep half of his chocolate bar because my mom was defenseless against his puppy-dog eyes. I took the other half triumphantly.

For the next hour we talked about all the things we'd heard about Sanctuary. I groaned when they said it was likely that we'd all be sharing a room and cheered when they said that there was a good chance that a lot of people my age would be there.

Time passed too quickly.

Then my dad drove over a hill and stopped. We caught our first glimpse of a Reaper. It was impossibly big; I didn't learn until later that it was one of the small ones. A low, horrible hum emanated from it as it crushed entire buildings with each step, and shot a laser that took out entire neighborhoods in a single shot. The city was in ruins around it. The few skyscrapers it hadn't sent tumbling to the ground were ablaze and beginning to crumble. I said something I don't remember and my mom mumbled back a reply that was also lost to the awful sight.

Eventually my dad started the car again and we made our way along the outskirts of the ruined city to the spaceport.

"Where are all the ships?" my mom asked no one in particular. The docking bay was empty except for the cars parked haphazardly about, like their owners knew they weren't coming back for them. "Damn it, where are they?"

"Over there!" I pointed at the large crowd surrounding a small transport shuttle. It was the last ship there.

My dad stopped trying to maneuver around the mess of cars and hit the brakes. "We have to make a run for it, before they leave!" We jumped out of the car quickly and started to run. My mom followed us after grabbing our old pistol from the glove compartment. She'd taught me how to shoot at bottles with it when I was growing up.

We sprinted the quarter mile between us and a way off planet. I noticed that there were no children in the crowd; they must have been the first people evacuated. As we reached the edge of the mass of people we could hear the pilot yelling, "We're out of room! I'm sorry, but none of you can come on!"

The crowd cried out in fear and anger. A few people dropped to their knees in prayer. My dad watched in horror as the pilot went to close the hatch.

I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder as my mom pulled me through the crowd, screaming, "Wait! My daughter is only fifteen! You can't leave her here! Please!" The pilot paused as she shoved our way to the front. "Please! My little girl needs to be somewhere safe!"

The pilot looked ready to cry as she said, "I'm so sorry. We are at capacity. The ship literally can not hold any more people. Oh God, I am so sorry."

An older man wearing a uniform similar to hers looked out of the hatch. His eyes met my mom's and he said, "Not quite."

"Ruiz, what are you talking about? We've already ditched all the cargo. The ship can't hold any more weight." She looked hopeful, despite her grim pronouncement.

The hope dimmed as he said, "The ship only needs one pilot."

"You can't-"

"I am." He spoke to my mom again. "I have a daughter her age."

I looked between them in confusion, not wanting to understand. "But I can't leave without my parents!"

My mom grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face her. "You will go without us. You will go to somewhere safe and you will stay there, do you hear me?"

My dad appeared and pulled me into a hug. "We'll come on the next transport shuttle, you'll see. You'll hardly be away from us before we come to get you. We will come for you, no matter what."

Ruiz touched my arm. "You need to get going."

"Thank you." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

The next few minutes were a blur of half-heard "I love you"s and being buckled into the the copilot's chair and watching the crowd back away from the ship as it prepared to take off. Then I went off-world for the first time in my life and all I wanted to do was go home.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stood uncertainly in front of my bed, where I had laid out all my clothes, looking for something appropriate to wear. When I'd gone out shopping I'd picked out a few outfits, but the colors I'd chosen were bright and colorful, not mourning black. I stood like that for what seemed like forever before Dellix found me, staring down at all the bright, pretty fabrics like they held the answers to the universe. "We don't have to do this today."

"I do," I said absently, looking up at the casually clothed turian leaning against my door frame. He'd already said that it didn't matter what I wore, but I wanted to dress respectfully. "You do, too, actually. C-SEC won't like you taking too much time off."

He had nothing to say to that. I'd heard Tectis call to ask when he'd be back already, and, even if that wasn't the case, his sense of responsibility would have him returning to work soon. This was the second day he'd been absent; I didn't believe him when he'd claimed to be a workaholic before, but now I was seeing how antsy he got when he was away from his job for too long. Eventually he wandered off to the kitchen to grab some Tupari.

The problem wasn't really with the clothes, I knew that, but I didn't want to focus on anything else. The other stuff was hard.

That didn't mean I could put it off forever. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and grabbed something at random. I knew what I was holding before I'd even opened my eyes. The rough denim was unlike anything else in my current wardrobe. It was the same outfit I'd arrived in. I almost giggled at the coincidence.

A few minutes later I emerged. Dellix said nothing, waiting for me to say that I was ready. I couldn't do it. Instead I nodded, a small, quick nod, and we left.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

We bought three flowers on the way to the Memorial Wall. They were from Earth and the kid called them sunflowers. The clerk seemed delighted to sell them. He said that they were the first flowers he'd sold all week that weren't white. I was beginning to suspect that colors held a lot more significance to humans that turians.

Ally walked more and more slowly as we neared the elevator. I wondered if she was getting sick again, but when I asked she said no.

"Are you sure?" I prompted, giving her a reason to back out if she wasn't ready to go today.

Her normally cheerful face looked crumpled. "No. I'm scared. I don't want to go and I don't know why. I already know that they're gone, but..."

"Knowing and letting go are two different things. Come on, we can go another time."

She shook her head. "I've got to do this today."

I followed her into the elevator.

Tectis and I nodded each other as I passed our desk, before he turned back to the small line of people with questions forming around him. The older turian I'd worked with before when he'd been absent was at his side, looking nearly as confused as the people asking the questions.

In front of the Memorial Wall, dozens of people, most overcome with emotion, left tributes to the fallen. Some put their offerings down and left immediately, but most lingered a little, either to say prayers or say good-bye. Ally approached the wall hesitantly, looking for an empty space to put her flowers, but there were so many dead that there was hardly any space left for anything.

I put a hand on her shoulder and she gave me a small smile, glad for the support. We searched for nearly an hour for the perfect spot, finally finding it on a small ledge, surrounded by photos and one little girl's ribbon.

As she set them down she let out a great, shuddering breath, but nothing more. She looked more peaceful then she had for a while.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at all the faces peering back at me, smiling, completely oblivious to the grief of those who placed them there.

"You know what? I think I am."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ally POV

The day after I said good-bye I went back to volunteering down at the Docks. I knew my parents probably weren't going to be on the next shuttle, and that hurt, but there was still some good I could do anyways.

People were flooding in even faster than before, in waves of fear and grief. I comforted the ones I could, but most... they still needed time. All I could do was show them where to go and how to fill out their paperwork. It occurred to me more than once that I might have been one of them, under different circumstances. Time, friendship, and a healthy dose of initial denial were what saved me from that.

I took a lunch break and went to join Dellix at his desk so that we could eat together. Except he wasn't there. Tectis was alone, giving directions to a defeated looking asari clutching a pile of papers. I waited until they were done before I approached the desk.

"Hey, Tectis," I greeted him. "Do you know where Dellix is?"

He grinned, wide eyes crinkling almost invisibly at the corners. "Paperwork." He patted the other chair behind the desk and said, "Another run-in with duct rats."

I joined him behind the desk and started in on my lunch. "Who are they?" I asked, offering him a chicken nugget.

He waved it away. "Run-aways mostly. There's lots of paperwork involved, so he won't be back for a while."

"Oh. Okay." We sat in companionable silence for a bit. It wasn't awkward or anything, surprisingly. Normally it is when you don't know the other person very well. He tapped away at his omnitool and I allowed my mind to wander.

"You should still be in mourning," he said a few minutes later, interrupting my thoughts. "I looked it up. Humans tend to grieve for a long time."

I was surprised that he bothered. "Did you look that up just now?"

"No, my research into human mourning customs was completed a week ago. I'm looking into drell now. You didn't answer my question." He was still looking at his omnitool, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was watching me, too.

I sat back and thought for a minute before answering. "I'm still sad, and will be for a long time, but I've already cried for them."

He nodded in approval. "Very rational of you. Salarians tend to have a similar point of view, but I'm not used to hearing it from humans."

That wasn't why I was trying to move on, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "So why are you studying that anyway?" I asked.

"There are a lot of people arriving each day who have lost people, and helps me do my job if I know what to say to them. Got the idea from something Dellix said a while back."

My omnipad started to flash with an incoming message. There was a human ship from Australia about to land. "I have to go, but it was nice talking to you. Tell him hi for me, yeah?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dellix POV

I jerked awake to the sound of the Citadel's emergency alarms blaring through the Wards. As if on automatic, I leapt from the bed and was halfway into my armor before I was even aware of what was happening. Ally hopped into my room, pulling a shoe onto one of her feet, as I locked the last parts of my armor into place.

"Are they here?" she asked, fear making her voice even higher than normal.

I tapped on my omnitool, which was flashing impatiently with dozens of messages from C-SEC; they all said the same thing. "I'm afraid so, kid."

She sucked in a frightened breath and ducked out of my room to run towards her own. A few days before I decided that we should have some emergency supplies ready, just in case. I grabbed my own pack from underneath my bed and tossed it over my shoulder.

My omnitool was showing no messages from Tectis, so I sent him a message telling him to get to the Docks and get off of the station.

Ally came back, this time wearing her bright yellow hoodie and with a small, white backpack slung over her shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"The Docks. From there, I don't know," I said, putting in the combination to the lock on my gun cabinet. I pulled out my heavy pistol and slipped it into my holster, but there was another gun I wanted, too. It took me a few seconds to find what I was looking for: an old, small pistol that still used heat sinks. "You said your mom taught you how to shoot?"

She stared at the weapon I held out to her. "At bottles! I can't shoot down a Reaper!"

I hated asking this of her. "The pistol's not for the Reapers. I need to know that you can protect yourself if there's ever a reason that I... can't."

"Can't?" she echoed as I pressed the gun into her trembling hands.

"We have to go," I said, as gently as I could.

Teresa opened her door just as we were about to knock on it, still in her pajamas and clutching a large purse crammed with food and pictures of her son to her chest. She glanced at the gun in Ally's hands, but didn't seem to register it as odd, simply following us down the hall, then down the stairs.

The streets were packed with panicking people. They slowed each other down in their hurry to escape; everyone was pushing forward, but no one could decide which direction that was.

Checking my messages one last time, I found one from Tectis, promising to meet me in front of a small multi-species diner near the elevator to the Docks. I responded by implying several unpleasant things about his mother and demanding that he evacuate immediately.

Ally and I each linked an arm with Julia and we began to ford our way through the edge of the crowd.

Above us the sky was bright from the battle. Fleets of ships stood between us and the Reapers, but they were being demolished. We all watched in collective horror as a dreadnought slammed into what I think was Ward 7. The impact flattened every building in that Ward in the time it took to blink and it shook the Citadel so hard that it would have sent all of sprawling if we weren't so tightly packed together. As it was, those of us near the outer edges stumbled blindly against each other as we tried to keep our balance.

The crowd roared with panicked shrieks and my translator couldn't keep up with the onslaught of sounds. I kept hearing snippets of prayers, jumbles of random words in voices that were trying to be comforting, and ignored calls for help. Behind me I saw that Ally was helping Teresa mute her translator. I was tempted to do the same, but I knew that I needed to keep my ears open.

Eventually the residential district began to give way to the commercial district. Nearly everyone was headed the same way we were, thanks to the local militia, who were starting to spread out and call directions out over a loud speaker. The crowd fell in line, glad that there was finally someone who knew what to do.

As we neared the elevator I began to crane my neck to look for Tectis. Despite what I said, I knew that he'd be waiting exactly where he said he would be. When I spotted him leaning against the doors of the restaurant I began to wave, doubting that he would hear me if I called out. He nodded in acknowledgment and slipped into the crowd, headed straight towards us.

Ally tugged on my arm, as silent as the rest of the crowd suddenly was. They all stared at the sky in slack-jawed horror. I followed their line of sight.

The screams drowned out any reasoning as small Reaper transport ships began to break past the line and descend upon the Wards. Banshees and Marauders began to fall from the sky, leaving fire traveling in their wake. People attempted to run from them, but the streets were too narrow and full. I couldn't shoot at them either; there were too many people in the way for me to do anything to help them.

We were running with the rest of crowd away from the monsters behind us when Tectis appeared, seemingly from nowhere, at my side. He tried to yell something, but it was lost in the noise. He grimaced and looked over his shoulder, before grabbing my arm and pulling us all into a nearby alleyway. The crush of people thundered by, paying us no attention in their hurry to escape.

"I said, 'They're going to be over there, too! We need to get off this station!'" he yelled, barely audible.

I didn't even bother with speaking. I pulled out my omnitool and typed out: 'No shit, dear.'

'Just follow me,' Tectis typed back, having turned on his own omnitool.

He lead us through a series of alleyways, curiously abandoned. I supposed that everyone had gone to the main road, or were attempting to wait in their homes for Commander Shepard to save them.

The further away from people we got the softer the noise became until finally it turned into a dull roar. "Where are we going?" I asked, my voice pitched low in the abrupt stillness.

"Maintenance tunnels. My oldest brother sent me the blueprints after Cerberus attacked."

"Does he work in them?" Ally asked, still looking jumpy.

He blinked. "No. He's a sales rep. on Noveria."

She looked to me for some form of explanation. I shrugged and said, "It's probably better not to ask."

She turned to say something to Teresa, except, suddenly, she wasn't there. We turned to see her standing perfectly still about ten feet back, her head cocked to the side. "Teresa?" the younger girl said. "Are you okay?"

"Shh!" the older woman warned. "I think I heard something." We all stopped and listened for the slightest sound, our guns drawn.

A Banshee cried out faintly in the distance and my heart froze. Next to me Ally gasped out a choked off sob, then slapped a hand to her mouth when she realized what she'd done. We waited to see if it had heard, but it's next call was fainter. 

Then another Banshee answered, as it came out from behind the next corner up.

It cried out again, this time with dark triumph, like a bird of prey.

We opened fire on it, but it kept stalking forward, eyes intent. It flashed forward to a few feet away and we ran.

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Ally POV

Distantly, I could hear gunfire and someone calling out my name. My head felt impossibly heavy, but somehow I managed to turn it towards the noise.

Dellix and Tectis were shooting at the Banshee; she was doubled over and riddled with bullet holes, but she kept trying to claw her way towards them. Another Banshee lay a little ways away, still slightly on fire, but definitely dead. I felt a surge of pride at that, but I couldn't remember why. All I could remember when I tried is the weight of the gun in my hand, then nothing, as her eyes glared just inches from mine.

"Ally!" It was a different voice this time, feminine and closer than the other, even though she still sounded distant and oddly tinny, like an old radio. I attempted to lift my head, to get a better look at her, but everything was so heavy and it was getting hard to breath. In fact, my breathing was just about the only sound I could hear with any clarity. It rasped wetly in my throat and lungs.

The world was getting smaller as black began to eat away at the edges of my vision. An old woman's face popped into view, wet with tears and tight with fear. She disappeared again, but I think she was still nearby. That's Julia, my brain informed me and I thanked it for being so helpful.

Another head popped into view then, one both alien and familiar. I smiled up at Dellix, but for once he didn't smile back at me. He tried, but his eyes were too sad to be convincing. It struck me then. Oh. I'm dying. That didn't scare me as much as I thought it would. After all, I had people waiting for me on the other side. Going to the Citadel had really been much scarier by comparison, and that had turned out pretty well. Except for the whole dying thing, but that was more according to your point of view.

I tried to explain this all to Dellix, but I couldn't get enough air to talk and he kept shushing me anyways.

So I just kept smiling at him, until finally the world just faded away.

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Dellix POV

I don't remember much after we ran. Sometimes I remember a flash of something, (black holes for eyes, people cramming ships beyond their capacity, looking out the window to watch the first Reaper land, she _smiled_ ), but, for the most part, those last few hours were a blur. I'm thankful for the small miracles.

What I do remember is landing, and helping to organize the civilians. They needed an authority figure and C-SEC blue does seem to have a calming effect on the scared and desperate. I also remember trying to contact others and getting static, at first because the lines were busy with war, and later because something happened and all the lines went dead. I remember mourning, both with my fellow passengers and alone.

Later, after the pain began to recede, I started to gather good memories, too. I met a beautiful woman with brightt red markings and a hearty laugh and Tectis was my second at our bonding ceremony. We named our first daughter Ally, after an unlikely friend, then our first son Krax, after her brother, who she last saw shipping off to Palaven. We had a two more daughters and another son, who we gave our parents names. They all hid whenever Teresa came over to cook, but we made sure they were at the table and on their best behavior when it came time to eat. I never did get to eat quarian food, but that didn't really matter. Life went on.


End file.
